Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney rolled to victory in Nevada's Republican presidential caucus Saturday, giving him back-to-back victories within four days and increasing his momentum heading into key states including Colorado, Arizona and Michigan.

Mitt Romney's easy victory in Nevada's Republican presidential caucuses might, in the long run, be less important than the fact that a surprising number of Republicans who could have participated Saturday chose to stay home.

I give up. I write this Saturday morning, long before any caucus returns are in, but the results for Nevada already are: We lost. Over the course of caucus week, the embarrassments have piled up. Caucuses starting at different times in different counties, like staggered shifts in casinos.

The biggest legislative battle next year might not be over school spending, public employees' bargaining rights or even the never-ending struggle over taxes, at least the usual kinds of taxes. The most contested issue, many legislative observers believe, will be a proposal that would eventually remove the industry-specific mining tax from the constitution.

Fueled by momentum and the Mormon vote, Mitt Romney scored an easy victory Saturday in Nevada's GOP presidential caucuses, winning a majority of conservatives, tea party believers and Republicans who say he's the best candidate to beat President Barack Obama.

Republican Party officials are trying to figure out how to deal with a "trouble box" of ballots from the presidential caucus Sunday as the count in Nevada's largest county stretches into its second day.

Gov. Brian Sandoval cast his GOP caucus ballot at Swope Elementary School Saturday, though he did not say who he's supporting.

The dismal turnout for the Nevada Republican caucus had some GOP leaders and lawmakers on Sunday considering replacing the system with a presidential primary election.

Ileana Calderon rose early Saturday to caucus with other Republicans at Rancho High School. As a Cuban immigrant, the 65-year-old doesn't take the privileges of U.S. democracy lightly.

In one of the more colorful weekends of the Republican presidential campaign, results from the Nevada caucuses remained incomplete Sunday while officials recounted ballots in the state's most populous county; "Saturday Night Live" mocked Newt Gingrich as "Moon President"; Ron Paul supporters crashed a special nighttime voting site for people who had observed the Sabbath; and Rick Santorum toured the factory that knits his signature sweater vests.

A painstakingly slow hand count of Clark County's presidential caucus vote delayed final results by more than a day, prompting accusations of fraud and conspiracy from supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, doubts from national Republicans about Nevada's ability to run a caucus and derision from national political observers.

LAS VEGAS — A special Saturday night Republican caucus here intended to accommodate Orthodox Jews who could not vote before sundown became the scene of controversy and confrontation after caucusgoers were told that to be admitted they had to sign a legal declaration under penalty of perjury that they could not attend their daytime caucus because of "my religious beliefs."

LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney handily won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, solidifying his status as the front-runner and increasing his momentum as he seeks to use the month of February to ease doubts within the Republican Party about his candidacy and begin confronting President Obama.

Imagine this: You're the Super Bowl host city, and you've gone to a lot of trouble to get the big game in your town. Now everyone's watching as the game comes to an end, and you can't get the scoreboard to work. Suddenly no one's sure who's ahead or how much time is left to play.

After scraping by on handyman jobs for a year, Bert Qintana figured he'd have to leave his wife and teenage son at their home near Taos, N.M., and find work elsewhere.

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Medicaid program in Maine is short of money, and conservative Governor Paul LePage has a blunt proposal for solving the problem — drop people from the rolls.